Review of The Handmaiden (2016) by Dennis L — 02 Jun 2017
Original, daring, fascinating.
Not to mention beautifully and cleverly directed.
This is the first of Chan-wook Park's films I've seen and if the others are half as good as "The Handmaiden" I'm going to see them all. Min-hee Kim stars as Lady Hikeko, a young Japanese woman of wealth and beauty living in an isolated estate with her sadistic uncle in Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s. A gaggle of Korean thieves and con artists dream up a scheme to separate Hikeko from her fortune. The idea is for one of them to pose as a Count Fujiwara, seduce Hikeko and then marry her. Aiding this scheme is a pretty little pickpocket named Sook-Hee (played with great skill and charm by Tae-ri Kim).
That's all I can tell you about the plot. Rest assured it is fascinating with some very surprising twists and turns. This is also one of the sexiest movies I've ever seen. It is billed as a crime thriller but actually it is the story of a beautiful love affair. Again I will not elaborate since any more information might spoil the film for many viewers.
Bottom line: I plan on seeing this again and I seldom watch films more than once, only the great ones.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the movie review book, "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote".
This review of The Handmaiden (2016) was written by Dennis L on 02 Jun 2017.
The Handmaiden has generally received very positive reviews.
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